Way of the Devil

“Boom!”

Blood scattered like the sparks of a firework. The shreds of flesh and limbs barely fell some distance away before they were torn to pieces by more spirit-prompting threads.

Countless spirit-prompting threads that were impossible to describe kept emerging in an endless and frenzied stream from Lu Sheng’s body.

The blue-robed figures initially struggled to fight back with their war cries. However, eventually, their entire force perished.

The Ling Family’s women crowded around the old woman and quickly went away.

The middle-aged man’s expression was dark. He glared at Lu Sheng who was in midair. For a time, he was unsure how he should react.

In the skies above the courtyard, Lu Sheng resembled a huge octopus with a curled body which instantly sprang forth with all its tentacles.

“Young man, you’re seeking your own death!” A faint red figure shot toward him. Three golden crystals danced around the figure as he hurled a palm toward Lu Sheng.

“Block the Heavens and Cordon Off the Earth! Die!”

This palm strike was supported by the Spiritual Essence of the world around them. It formed a huge mass of scarlet heat wave which circled around Lu Sheng in the shape of a funnel.

A three-eyed golden toad appeared above the funnel. Its jaw was wide open. An energy ball which was charged with countless dark golden runes was contained within its jaws. It aimed the energy ball downward.

“Scram!” Lu Sheng turned sideways. His spirit-prompting threads condensed into a huge hand and struck the side of the funnel.

“Bam!”

A huge hole was immediately created in the funnel. With its structure damaged, the entire funnel crumbled, and formed an invisible flow of air. Faint wailing sounds could also be heard.

“I’ll do it!” The fish-shaped shadow appeared again. It reached out to Lu Sheng’s shadow.

“Yin Capital Soul-scattering!” Countless shadows formed ropes which wrapped themselves around Lu Sheng.

In that instant, the two factions of the Ling Family were working together against him.

The shadow ropes tightened and absorbed the wildly boiling spirit-prompting threads in Lu Sheng’s body.

“Bzzt…”

The shadow ropes split into countless fine nets. More of the shadows in the air joined with it. This made the black net on Lu Sheng’s body stronger.

In no time, Lu Sheng’s entire person was being enveloped in the ever-thickening black net. He formed a huge black ball which hovered in midair.

“Under my shadow shackle, even the elders can’t easily break free!” An old voice slowly sounded. The voice’s owner was Elder Xu, whom the middle-aged man had mentioned before.

“Sicheng, you may prepare—”

“Like I said, shut up!”

A voice which barely suppressed its bad temper came out from the black ball.

The fish-shaped shadow froze in midair. All of a sudden, it seemed difficult to inhale the air.

“I’ll show you what the First Limit is…”

“Pcchht!”

A beam of golden light penetrated the black ball from within.

“Pcchht! Pcchht! Pcchht! Pcchht! Pcchht!”

A second beam followed right after, then a third, a fourth… Countless golden beams burst forth from the black ball.

Amid tearing sounds, the black ball exploded. Lu Sheng’s current condition was revealed.

The countless spirit-prompting threads were now faintly gold in color. They gathered around him and turned into two huge wings.

They formed two light golden semi-transparent wings which spanned a dozen meters.

“Swash!”

The golden wings slowly unfurled and covered the entire sky above the courtyard. It scattered fluorescent white powder.

Below, Tu Jin had been in an awed stupor all this while. “Hollow Spirit Transformation…” he finally mumbled as he recognized Lu Sheng’s peculiarly dazzling and extravagant form.

“Hollow Spirit Transformation of the spirit-prompting threads… This is… This is the final form of the healing art! It’s a tier which cleanses all!” Tu Jin could not help but start shaking.

This was not a tier which the Tu Style Healing Art could hope to strive for. This was the ultimate form of all healing arts.

The middle-aged man, Ling Sicheng, felt some unnamed emotions boiling within himself. He merely wanted to retain some doctors who were capable of treating poison…

However, what was this situation?

A premature feud battle?

From his side, his Cloud Snake guard, Elder Xu, was sent out, and was heavily wounded by the doctor.

From the other faction, the grand elder made his move, but his signature move was undone by the doctor. Ling Sicheng reckoned that the elder was hiding in some corner, tending to his injuries.

Then, his secret guards around him were reduced to a handful who were barely clinging onto their lives…

He did not know what he had done. All he wanted was to retain the three doctors to treat his father’s illness.

However, currently… He had the feeling that there was no longer a need for him to treat his father’s illness anymore… He was the one who needed medical attention!

“Send the lady away!” He struggled to keep his light blue barrier up to fend off the faint golden threads which lashed about indiscreetly.

“Keh, keh…”

A black figure morphed into a white-haired old man and appeared beside him.

“Sicheng, we’ve done it this time… You should bring the others to safety. Don’t let Chouhua come to any harm.” The old man waved his sleeves. “I’ll stop him.”

His gaze was like a hawk’s as he stared at Lu Sheng who was slowly dropping to the ground.

This battle was mind-boggling.

The opposing faction was eventually triggered to meddle in this affair, but even they were being fended off by this peculiar doctor. The signature move of the greatest powerhouse, the grand elder, was undone, and he was injured in return. He was not heard from ever since.

The starting point for all this was because Ling Sicheng wanted to retain the special doctor who could treat poison…

He intended to threaten the doctor to treat wounds and put him to use in the upcoming battle.

In the end, the threat to his family was removed. His ace-in-the-hole was crippled, and the battle had been settled by the doctor…

At the moment, they were frightened. They did not know what the maniac doctor would do next.

Against an expert of that level, sending more ordinary guards would be a waste of their lives.

Ling Sicheng maintained his expression. However, his inner garments were already drenched in sweat. When he saw Lu Sheng slowly descending to the ground, he could not help but call out to him.

“If you want to vent, kill me. It was I who gave the order to have you detained. It was also I who gave the order to have all of you killed.” He was the interim head of the family. He was also the only mainstay left of the Ling Family.

One of the original mainstays, the grand elder, had his signature move undone by Lu Sheng. Lu Sheng had broken his funnel with a palm strike. Ling Sicheng reckoned that the grand elder was heavily wounded right now. He was not even sure if the grand elder was still conscious.

Initially, Ling Sicheng had a complicated and secure plan which contained a dozen sets of countermeasures for unforeseen circumstances.

He even installed a great number of spies and prepared the stage behind the scenes.

Alas…

There was not a damned use for all that anymore.

He had the enormous Ling Family. A few days ago, he was still chatting away happily with the vice city master. He even had a meal and a great drink with the deputy soldier master who was in charge of the city’s soldiers and horses.

He was surrounded by beautiful ladies, and the number of elites in his family was as numerous as the clouds.

However, just because he provoked a doctor… Everything became meaningless now.

This was just one small courtyard among several thousand courtyards the Ling Family had.

The Ling Family was a great ship that was about to set sail after drawing the curtains on its internal feud. However, it was now faced with a sudden and strange variable.

A doctor who’d attained the Army Raising tier…

This was not a joke.

He’d initially intended to gather his men and march west on a campaign. He took the opportunity to visit his old father. However, his father’s condition suddenly worsened, and they somehow ended up in their current situation.

Lu Sheng snorted. After killing 100 people, he felt his rage subside slightly.

When he saw Ling Sicheng, a violent streak flashed across his eyes.

“How do you think I should deal with you?” He had exposed his healing art’s terrifying tier when he had no other choice. At the same time, he used the First Limit, Blood Heart, which forcibly raised his spirit-prompting threads to the Army Raising tier.

The enhancement was so powerful that an extremely terrifying might was brought out from the spirit-prompting threads, which only had healing abilities before this.

On their own, even with his Weapon Grandmaster’s spirit pushing them, his spirit-prompting threads were of the Divine Lord rank, at best.

However, it was different now…

His Blood Heart had forcibly raised his spirit-prompting threads by one rank. His healing art was currently at the early stages of a Weapon Grandmaster’s tier, and its terrifying might was unleashed.

“If you’re willing to accept, I can pay you recompense,” Ling Sicheng said.

Currently, only Ling Sicheng, Tu Jin, and his disciples were left in the courtyard.

Before this, there were the men of the grand elder from the opposing faction. However, after the grand elder’s signature move was undone by Lu Sheng, they no longer showed themselves.

Only the scattered flesh and blood which dyed the walls and plants red were left.

“How should we deal with this?” Lu Sheng glanced at Tu Jin and De Yun. They were still in a daze.

He immediately sighed inwardly. After this exposition of his strength, he knew that he could not stay with Tu Jin any longer. Otherwise, he would put them in greater danger.

They did not have the strength to protect themselves. They could not even deal with a small problem that was sure to arise by staying with Lu Sheng.

“It’s all your fault!”

“Bam!”

Lu Sheng dragged a golden arc in midair with lightning speed. He landed a smack on Ling Sicheng’s right cheek.

With a loud sound, Ling Sicheng’s body was like a rock or stick that was sent flying. He somersaulted across the ground and broke his head as he crashed heavily onto the wall.

The Ling Manor’s formation shone with bluish runes on the wall. A small section of the perimeter wall was broken before Ling Sicheng’s body was stopped.

“Blergh!”

He spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and fell limply to the ground. He wanted to stand up, but he could not move a muscle.

Inwardly, he felt fortunate that the retainers of the Ling Family and Ling Chouhua had left this place. The deserted courtyard was filled with the scent of blood.

Since Lu Sheng had made his move, he felt that it was too much work to try and cover up his actions. He split some golden spirit-prompting threads and bound Tu Jin and De Yun together. Then, he covered himself by bringing his wings in.

This was not like the mortal world. Loop Mountain City was filled with elites. This was a famed city of the Third Ward. Even an Army Raising-ranked Weapon Grandmaster could not do as he pleased around here.

From his senses alone, Lu Sheng could tell that there were at least two to three Weapon Grandmaster-ranked experts here.

In addition to that, Libra City was rich in resources. There were plenty of secret arts to go around. There might just be some secret tool or secret art that could also affect Weapon Grandmasters.

Hence, he intended to leave swiftly.

The second elder Ling Chengche’s injuries were taken care of. He’d most likely been poisoned by someone close to him. Judging from Ling Sicheng’s reactions, this possibility could not be ruled out.

“It’s time to destroy the evidence.” Lu Sheng stockpiled some energy.

“Pcchht!”

“Pchht! Pchht! Pchht! Pchht! Pchht!”

In an instant, his golden wings turned into countless spirit-prompting threads again and burst forth in all directions.

The perimeter wall, ground’s surface, houses, and formation barrier were penetrated by the golden threads. Densely packed holes appeared on them.

The flesh and blood grew and expanded swiftly. They formed huge patches of dark red flesh carpet. Under the spirit-prompting threads’ swift nourishment, all the nutritious organic materials were devoured and absorbed.

At this moment, the Ling Family was finally alerted. Teams of Snake tier experts took to the air and flew toward this spot swiftly.

However, they were still in midair when they encountered the countless golden threads unleashed by Lu Sheng.

The Ling Family’s most elite Snake-tier troop suffered great losses in an instant.